Carzo Cage

With Carzo Cage, Tufts University Athletics has a unique indoor facilty unlike what most NCAA Division III programs can offer.

The facility, which recently had a field turf surface installed, can accommodate a variety of athletic activities and includes regulation baseball and softball infields, batting cages and bullpens. The size of the complex is also sufficient for other teams to practice in during the winter months or inclement weather. In addition to varsity sports, Tufts' club and intramural sports can utilize the space.

The historic 20,000-square foot facility has served as an indoor practice site for Tufts teams and others since the Cousens Gymansium complex opened in 1932. The Cage was the premier indoor collegiate athletics facility in New England until Harvard built its indoor arena in the early 1960s.

For many years its signature use was by the Jumbo indoor track & field teams coached by Ding Dussault and featuring Eddie Dugger Jr., both Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame inductees. Among others who also used the facility were the Boston Red Sox for spring training in 1943. That team included baseball icon Ted Williams.

In 2002 the facility was renovated and dedicated in honor of Rocky Carzo, the athletics director emeritus who first came to Tufts in 1966 as head football coach. What Rocky Carzo has given Tufts is the "passionate belief that what happens on our playing fields, on our courts and in our gymnasium has far broader application than the final score," said Larry Bacow, Tufts' President at the time. "He has taught us that what our students learn through sport they carry with them for a lifetime—the importance of teamwork, leadership, fair play, respect for others, integrity, commitment and hard work."